News

2013: The year’s top stories

FAREWELL, 2013: Tony Appleton, a town crier, announces the birth of the royal baby, outside St. Mary's Hospital exclusive Lindo Wing in London, Monday, July 22. Photo: Associated Press/Lefteris Pitarakis

Pope Francis waves to crowds as he arrives to his inauguration Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, Tuesday, March 19. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

An emergency responder and volunteers, including Carlos Arredondo in the cowboy hat, push Jeff Bauman in a wheel chair after he was injured in an explosion near the finish line of the Boston Marathon Monday, April 15, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 30, before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the difficulties plaguing the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. The Obama Administration claims the botched rollout was the result of contractors failing to live up to expectations – not bad management at HHS. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The flag-draped coffin containing the body of Venezuela’s late President Hugo Chavez is taken from the hospital where he died, to a military academy, where it will remain until his funeral in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, March 6. Seven days of mourning were declared, all schools were suspended for the week and friendly heads of state were expected for an elaborate funeral. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

George Zimmerman, right, is greeted by defense counsel Don West at the start of his trial in Seminole Circuit Court, in Sanford, Fla., Monday, July 8. Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teen, in 2012. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Joe Burbank)

A woman carries her child through a field near the collapsed Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., Monday, May 20, following a massive tornado. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki)

Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge hold the Prince of Cambridge, Tuesday July 23, as they pose for photographers outside St. Mary’s Hospital exclusive Lindo Wing in London where the Duchess gave birth. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

A U.S. Park Police officer watches at left as a National Park Service employee posts a sign on a barricade closing access to the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 1. Congress plunged the nation into a partial government shutdown as a long-running dispute over President Barack Obama’s health care law stalled a temporary funding bill, forcing about 800,000 federal workers off the job and suspending most non-essential federal programs and services. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Typhoon Haiyan survivors ride motorbikes through the ruins of the destroyed town of Guiuan, Philippines on Thursday, Nov. 14. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most powerful storms on record, hit the country’s eastern seaboard, destroying tens of thousands of buildings and displacing at least a half-million people. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

The sun rises in Seaside Heights, N.J., Monday, Feb. 25, behind the Jet Star Roller Coaster which has been sitting in the ocean after part of the Funtown Pier was destroyed during Superstorm Sandy. The private owners of the amusement pier that collapsed in Seaside Heights were working with insurers to devise a plan to dismantle the ride and get it out of the ocean. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Syrians stomp on a portrait during a demonstration in the neighborhood of Bustan Al-Qasr, Aleppo, Syria, Friday, Jan. 4. (AP Photo/Andoni Lubaki)

A Bangladeshi woman survivor is lifted out of the rubble by rescuers at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday, April 25. The collapse of Rana Plaza in Dhaka that killed 1,129 people. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner rubs his eyes during a candidate forum on small business, in the Inwood section of the borough of Manhattan, in New York, Tuesday, July 30. Weiner had plunged to fourth place among Democrats in a poll taken since he admitted to having illicit online exchanges with women even after he resigned from Congress amid a sexting scandal. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning is escorted out of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Tuesday, July 30, after receiving a verdict in his court martial. Manning was acquitted of aiding the enemy — the most serious charge he faced — but was convicted of espionage, theft and other charges, more than three years after he revealed secrets to WikiLeaks. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

An overhead view of guests attending the ceremonial funeral of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at St Paul’s Cathedral in London, Wednesday April 17. Thatcher died on April 8. (AP Photo/Dominic Lipinski)

A field of parked cars and trucks sits partially submerged near Greeley, Colo., Saturday, Sept. 14, as debris-filled rivers flooded into towns and farms miles from the Rockies. Hundreds of roads, farms and businesses in the area were damaged or destroyed by the floodwaters. (AP Photo/John Wark)

This photo released by the Kenya Presidency shows the collapsed upper car park of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya Thursday, Sept. 26. (AP Photo/Kenya Presidency)

President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama, former President Jimmy Carter and former President Bill Clinton wave as they leave 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr., spoke, Wednesday, Aug. 28, at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A smashed car sits in front of an apartment complex destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, as firefighters conduct a search and rescue Thursday, April 18. A massive explosion occured at the West Fertilizer Co. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Members of the Tokyo 2020 delegation celebrate after Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympic Games during the 125th IOC session in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, Sept. 7. Tokyo defeated Istanbul in the final round of secret voting Saturday by the International Olympic Committee. Madrid was eliminated earlier after an initial tie with Istanbul. (AP Photo/Ian Watson)

First responders work the scene of a derailment of a Metro-North passenger train in the Bronx borough of New York Sunday, Dec. 1. The train derailed on a curved section of track in the Bronx, coming to rest just inches from the water and causing multiple fatalities and dozens of injuries, authorities said. Metropolitan Transportation Authority police say the train derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

Lazaro Martinez, covered in mud, pauses while searching for his wife and two children, in the town of La Pintada, Mexico, Friday, Nov. 1. La Pintada residents are demanding that the government continue the recovery of bodies buried in the massive landslide triggered by Tropical Storm Manuel, engulfing half the remote coffee-growing village. (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez)

The Costa Concordia is seen after it was lifted upright, on the Tuscan Island of Giglio, Italy, early Tuesday morning, Sept. 17. The crippled cruise ship was pulled completely upright after a complicated, 19-hour operation to wrench it from its side where it capsized last year off Tuscany, with officials declaring it a “perfect” end to a daring and unprecedented engineering feat. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

This aerial photo shows the wreckage of the Asiana Flight 214 airplane after it crashed at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Saturday, July 6. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Ariel Castro walks into the courtroom Wednesday, July 24, in Cleveland. Castro pled guilty to 937 criminal counts of rape, kidnapping, and aggravated murder, as part of a plea bargain. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole, plus 1,000 years. One month into his sentence, prison guards found Castro dead in his cell after hanging himself. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

Kris Perry, foreground left, kisses Sandy Stier as they are married at City Hall in San Francisco, Friday, June 28. Stier and Perry were married after a federal appeals court cleared the way for the state of California to immediately resume issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples after a 4 1/2-year freeze. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

A TV screen shows a news report of Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee who leaked top-secret documents about sweeping U.S. surveillance programs, at a shopping mall in Hong Kong Sunday, June 23. The former National Security Agency contractor wanted by the United States for revealing two highly classified surveillance programs has been allowed to leave for a “third country” because a U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with Hong Kong law, the territory’s government said. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

T.J. Lane unbuttons his shirt during sentencing Tuesday, March 19, in Chardon, Ohio. Lane, was given three lifetime prison sentences without the possibility of parole for opening fire last year in a high school cafeteria in a rampage that left three students dead and three others wounded. (AP Photo/The News-Herald, Duncan Scott)

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, pauses while meeting with reporters during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 28, to answer questions about the impending automatic spending cuts that take effect March 1. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

In this photo provided to the AP, police officers stand near an unidentified weapon in Terminal 3 of the Los Angeles International Airport on Friday, Nov. 1. Officials said a gunman who opened fire in the terminal was wounded in a shootout with police and taken into custody. (AP Photo)

Firefighters battle a blaze in a building on the Seaside Park boardwalk on Thursday, Sept. 12, in Seaside Park, N.J. The fire began in a frozen custard stand on the Seaside Park section of the boardwalk and quickly spread north into neighboring Seaside Heights. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Convicted killer Jodi Arias pauses for a moment during an interview at the Maricopa County Estrella Jail on Tuesday, May 21, in Phoenix. Arias was convicted of killing her former boyfriend Travis Alexander in his suburban Phoenix home back in 2008. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, left, applauds as the members of the ‘Malala Day’ Youth Assembly wish Malala Yousafzai, center, a happy birthday, Friday, July 12, at United Nations headquarters. Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot by the Taliban for promoting education for girls, celebrated her 16th birthday by addressing the United Nations. The U.N. has declared July 12 “Malala Day,” to honor the teen who returned to school in March after medical treatment in Britain for injuries suffered in the October attack. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

A procession of 19 hearses for the 19 fallen Arizona firefighters drives through the desert, Sunday, July 7, near Wickenburg, Ariz, The elite crew of firefighters were overtaken by the out-of-control blaze as they tried to protect themselves from the flames under fire-resistant shields. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama share a dance during the Commander-In-Chief Inaugural ball at the Washington Convention Center during the 57th Presidential Inauguration Monday, Jan. 21, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)

This aerial view on Monday, Nov. 18, shows the path of a tornado that hit the western Illinois town of Washington. It was one of the worst-hit areas after intense storms and tornadoes swept through Illinois. The National Weather Service says the tornado that hit Washington had a preliminary rating of EF-4, meaning wind speeds of 170 mph to 190 mph. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

The flags surrounding the Washington Monument fly at half-staff as ordered by President Barack Obama following the deadly shooting Monday at the Washington Navy Yard, Tuesday morning, Sept. 17, in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

This photo released by Indonesia’s National Rescue Team shows rescuers at the crash site of a Lion Air plane in Bali, Indonesia on Saturday, April 13. The plane carrying more than 100 passengers and crew overshot a runway on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on Saturday and crashed into the sea, injuring nearly two dozen people. (AP Photo/National Rescue Team)

Passengers spell out the word “HELP” aboard the disabled Carnival Lines cruise ship Triumph as it is towed to harbor off Mobile Bay, Ala., Thursday, Feb. 14. The ship with more than 4,200 passengers and crew members had been idled for nearly a week in the Gulf of Mexico following an engine room fire. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

South Africa President Jacob Zuma, second left, shakes hands to pose for the media with Mandla Mandela the oldest grandson of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela after unveiling a 9 metre bronze statue of Nelson Mandela outside Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, Monday, Dec. 16. The statue was unveiled as part of the Day of Reconciliation Celebrations which occur annually on Dec. 16 at the Union Buildings, which this year fall on the structure’s centenary. Mandela died just days before the unveiling. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)